Enchilada

Cheese enchiladas with chili gravy If you order one plate to understand Tex-Mex, make it this. Chili gravy is a mash-up of flour-based gravy and Mexican chile sauce, usually meatless, built from fat, flour, broth, chili powder and cumin, and food writer Robb Walsh calls it the essence of the cuisine. Rolled around plain melting cheese, then smothered in that gravy, the enchiladas taste earthy and mellow rather than fiery. Houston's Felix Mexican Restaurant was best known for exactly this plate. It is comfort food with no apology needed.